98th csc december newsletter
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ÂTRANSCRIPT
ready impressive prevention work.
While visiting Marmal, our com-bat stress dog handler, PFC Fan-ning, was interviewed by a Navy reporter resulting in an article in PFC Fanning’s home newspaper and AL.com about the combat stress dog mission. Many thanks to Team Marmal for their help with the publicity.
These accomplishments are just a snap shot of the hard work com-pleted by our teams this month. The command team is continu-ously impressed by our teams’ hard work, the creativity in pre-vention outreach and the genuine concern our Soldiers have for our patients.
Strong work by all of our teams!
The 98th Medical Detachment (Combat Stress Control) has been busy during the month of December. Of note, all 98th teams have really gotten crea-tive in their prevention meth-ods and how they are reaching out to Soldiers and conveying CSC services available.
The BAF Prevention Team in conjunction with Chaplain Dyer from the 25th Signal Bat-talion hosted the Operation Army Ready: Ready and Resilient conference. Over 200 person-nel from across theater at-tended the conference which focused on the Performance Triad and how it relates to resilience and suicide preven-tion. Team Ghazni and Team Phoenix hosted fitness events to boost morale at their FOBs while simultaneously conveying the CSC mission. Team Phoe-nix hosted Fit Fest while Team Ghazni hosted the Ghazni Crossfit Competition both this
last month.
Team Lightning, aka “The Nomads,” began a FOB CSC newsletter and a monthly movie night. Team KAF has continued with Operation Warrior Uplift and set up a morale booth on the boardwalk on Christ-mas Eve for KAF Soldiers.
Team KAIAI has been busy traveling all of De-cember, conducting fre-quent battlefield circulation trips to their outlying FOBs while Team Shin-dand has continued re-porting impressive clinical and prevention contact numbers at their home location.
Teams Leatherneck and Ghazni both took on the role of Santa, delivering stockings to Service Mem-bers at their locations on Christmas. Last but not least, Team Marmal took
advantage of MAJ Edan’s abil-ity to connect with Soldiers at their location. During her visit, Team Marmal conducted many walk abouts as a part of their al-
Prevention at Work
I N S I D E T H I S
I S S U E :
Commander’s
Corner 2
Detachment
Sergeant’s Corner 3
Team
Headlines 4-
20
FRG POC/ Closing 21
M E N D T H E M I N D , M E E T
T H E M I S S I O N ! ! !
98th MED DET (CSC) 3 1 D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 3 V O L U M E I , I S S U E I I I
S P E C I A L
P O I N T S O F I N -
T E R E S T :
Prevention at
Work
Team
Excellence
P F C F A N N I N G , P F C M I L L S A N D
M A J E D A N I N M A R M A L
L T C D R E I T Z L E R S P E A K I N G A T O P E R A T I O N
A R M Y R E A D Y : R E A D Y A N D R E S I L I E N T
Commander’s Corner Greetings to all members of the 98th CSC Team: our Sol-diers, their loving families, and our wonderful friends!
I sincerely hope that all of you had a wonderful holiday season. For me, while it was certainly bittersweet to spend Christmas away from my fam-ily, there were some wonder-ful moments as well and I really enjoyed spending time with our Soldiers.
Since our last newsletter, I have visited our teams at Camp Marmal, FOB Ghazni, and FOB Lightning. At Camp Marmal, I spent a very windy night in a tent (not very rest-ful!), watched the dog team of PFC Fanning and MAJ Edan
work their magic on the FOB, and ate a calzone the size of a manhole cover at the German pizzeria. I think MAJ Ander-son and PFC Mills were truly amazed that I ate the whole thing. :-) At FOB Ghazni, I hiked around through mud and melt-ing snow, sat in a cold bunker during a FOB-wide battle drill, and met multiple command teams who absolutely adore CPT Orton, SSG Endreson, and PFC Sieker. I also tied for first on board game night, a true accomplishment when you are playing with Team Ghazni. SPC Wilcox served as my companion for that trip, and he and I both highly rec-ommend the cinnamon orange tea that CPT Orton keeps on hand, as well as the game we played (Saboteur).
Last, but not least, I vis-ited FOB Lightning, not far from one of Alexander the Great’s old castles in Gardez,. While there, I saw my first real snow of the season and was thrilled to see it, despite the fact that it caused the cancella-tion of my flight home. I also watched the movie, “Elf,” with MAJ Milligan, SGT Mesias, PFC Fanning, and MAJ Edan. MAJ Edan was most excited about trying to eat the popcorn that failed to reach MAJ Milligan’s mouth and least excited about the doggie eye protection and ear protection she had to wear on the helicopter. :-) As usual, I’d like to thank our families for all they do to support us, as well as our great FRG Leader, Shawta Hewett. Less than five months to go and we’re going strong!!!
O N
B F C
W I T H
T E A M
G H A Z N I
LTC Dreitzler 98th CSC
Commander
S N O W A T
F O B
L I G H T N I N G
W H I L E O N
B F C
T E A M
G H A Z N I B F C
V I S I T
P I C T U R E D
W I T H T E A M -
G H A Z N I O N
L E F T
F E E D I N G
“ T H E D I N O ”
B E L O W W I T H
S P C W I L C O X
Detachment Sergeant’s Corner Season’s Greetings from Afghanistan. The Holiday season is upon us and the 98th CSC made sure to celebrate in style. Team BAF was super excited to get a visit from Santa before he made his big trip. LTC Nelson was instrumental in making the arrangements for the big guy’s visit to Ba-gram. Hot cocoa and cook-ies were enjoyed by all.
With the Holiday season here, the weather has changed quite a bit here in Bagram. The snow and the cold are among us and the teams are quickly adjusting to the change in weather.
We are quickly ap-proaching the half-way mark in our support of Operation Enduring Freedom. As expected, the Soldiers and Officers of the detachment are truly making a huge difference here in country. The members of the mighty 98th are thinking outside the box and coming up with really great ways of spreading the word about Combat Stress. Team BAF spent a great deal of time putting together care and supply boxes for the outlying teams, striving to build “provider resiliency.” Teams Bastion and Ghazni spread holiday cheer by putting together and distributing Christmas stockings to Service-
members in their respective locations.
I am extremely thankful that we all have such won-derful support systems back home and I truly hope that this Holiday season is cele-brated as best as possible while we are all away from the ones we cherish the most. Thank you for your continued love and support. 9 8 T H M E D D E T ( C S C )
SFC Belay 98th CSC
Detachment Sergeant
Our Holiday Fun!
The Trivia Game
Winners
The BAF Officers
participated in pro-
fessional develop-
ment education at
the Korean Provi-
sional Reconstruc-
tion Team Hospital
and the joint opera-
tions center.
WRAPPER WINNERS!
Bagram Airfield (BAF)
Team BAF
broke bread
together for
a Christmas
feast.
9 8 T H M E D D E T ( C S C )
Good-
bye
wooden
B-Huts,
hello
concrete
barracks
with
indoor
plumb-
ing
Let it snow, let it
snow, let it snow!
No white Christmas
but Team BAF got
our 1st snow of the
season just before
New Years. A few
snow angles and
snow ball
skirmished
ensued… fun was
had by all.
LT Norton and SPC
Boone exchange IDF!
Bagram Airfield (BAF)
SPC
Boone
launching
at his next
target.
SPC Wilcox
and his
snow angel.
9 8 T H M E D D E T ( C S C )
SSG
Hewett
uses the
TATA for
cover.
PFC Fanning with snowball in route.
BAF Pictures HOLIDAY CHEER!
V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E I I
Many smiles
were had as
Team BAF
played the
Evil Grinch
Game.
Santa Claus came to town and took photos with the team.
“The Super
Special Super
Team is known for
doing Super
Special Super
things 60% of the
time, every time”
Resiliency Events And Clinical Care
Spreading Holiday Cheer
FOB Ghazni The team at FOB Ghazni re-
ceived a great honor on
Christmas day when the FOB
Commander, Polish BG Pod-
lasinski, recognized the teams
contribution to FOB Ghazni by
gifting them a commemorative
plaque as a “Thank you” for
services provided to both US
and Polish forces. The team
has made great efforts to host
FOB-wide Resiliency events to
boost morale and improve
resiliency and camaraderie
amongst all Coalition Forces
stationed on FOB Ghazni.
Receiving this recognition was
a great affirmation. The
Ghazni team remains moti-
vated and focused to continue
providing these services across
the FOB and we hope that we
can continue to positively im-
pact Soldier’s and civilian’s lives
throughout this deployment.
We would be remiss if we did
not thank our families back
home for their support as well
as the support we have re-
ceived from our headquarters
element and fellow 98th CSC
Soldiers.
States. The gesture was
greatly appreciated by the
command teams and Soldiers
alike. To complete the imper-
sonation, SSG Endreson ate
double dessert servings in
order to “Bulk Up” for his role
as Santa Claus.
The FOB Ghazni team gave its
best Santa Claus impersona-
tion on Christmas Eve. The
Ghazni team delivered over
700 fully packed Christmas
stockings to each and every US
Soldier serving on FOB Ghazni.
The stockings were all donated
by organizations, families, and
friends from back home in the
manage distress due to family struggles. Though soldiers who
seek treatment at our clinic
often come in dealing with
many significant stressors, we
can proudly share that all of
our patients in our tour thus
far have successfully overcome
their difficulties and remained
vital contributors to the OEF
mission.
Our team continued its focus
on creating and hosting Resil-
iency events for FOB Ghazni
residents. In December, the
team hosted a CrossFit Com-
petition. The competition was
fierce and the competitors
showed great heart in the
competition.
In the clinic this month, much
of clinical care focused on
helping service members
9 8 T H M E D D E T ( C S C )
FOB Ghazni Pictures
As the NFL regular season came to an end, fans celebrated
their teams accomplishments on FOB Ghazni. Packers
fans unfortunately remained as unsmart as ever!
Team Ghazni enjoyed a visit from LTC Dreitzler and
SPC Wilcox over December. When they left, so did
a piece of our heart!
SSG Endreson teaching anger management. Why are
people always being so mean!
CPT Orton’s Christmas wishes came true! Santa
delivered everything on his Christmas list!
PFC Sieker: FOB Defender!
Why is SSG Endreson so excited?
The Ghazni Clinic: Christmas style
Dec 2013
Highlights
Prevention Outreach
TEAM NOMAD Team Nomad continues to support Coalition Forces within the Pakitia and Khost Provinces. In an effort to integrate into a new environment at FOB Lightning, the Nomads focus on building com-mand relationships, advertising services, and providing prevention outreach. This month FOB Light-ning witness the first CSC Nomad newsletter; the intent was to get our names known, highlighting the topic resiliency, and provide a weekly schedule of prevention classes. As the snow rolled into our scenic Mt. Villa, so too did the 98th CDR and the prevention dog team; the Nomads truly en-joyed the visit and look forward to the next one. Christmas day started with a brisk 5K, followed by a fantastic brunch/dinner, and ending with family calls back home; overall it was a great day.
Thanks again to all the friends and family that supports the Nomads and the 98th……..Hope You All Have a Very Happy New-Year! 2014
Visit from 98th HQ; LTC Dreitzler, MAJ Eden, and PFC Fanning…..nice to see friendly faces!
SGT Mesias is reinforcing fight-ing positions.
Xmas movie “ELF” hosted by the 98th CSC.
MAJ Eden and PFC Fanning waiting for their next victims.
FOB wide Xmas 5K, MAJ Milligan was dreaming he got 1st place.
Of all of the
family moments
shared here on
KAIA CPT
McClean is
always there
with a smile
attempting to
bring out smiles
in those around
her.
CPT McClean (mama bear)
SGT Gates (CUB)
KABUL Int’l AIR PORT (KAIA) The month of December has been filled by an orchestra of events, from the late thanksgiving cele-
bration to accommodate out going personnel, the routine International BBQ, to many movements
across our area of responsibility, taking in an air force psychologist who deployed as a “Jet Air-
man” (Army asset), and more. Our team continues to build, maintain and further the bonds we have
developed across the Kabul area, and eagerly look forward to making new bonds with the incoming
units. As we say goodbye to the remaining 3 CORPS personnel from Ft. Hood, TX, we are beginning
to set our sights on the in-coming 18th Air Borne CORPS out of Ft Bragg, NC. I’m sure it will be an
amazing adventure and experience, as the meet and greet process typically is. We (Team KAIA)
have conducted a series of educational classes for our service members, contractors, civilians, and all
others who wished to attend this month. Our classes this month consisted of Redeployment Briefs,
Stress Management and Sleep Hygiene. We also had participation from our Air Force Psychologist
MAJ Kristin Galloway. We are happy to call MAJ Galloway one of our proud elite team members as
she hit the ground running and has adjusted to life here as a mobile provider very quickly. MAJ Gal-
loway joins us from Seymour Johnson, NC. She is originally from Dayton, OH. MAJ Galloway has a
husband and 3y/o daughter awaiting her arrival back in the states. Our team will be spending the last
day of the year 2013 at Camp Moorhead, where we are eager to meet the new camp provider and
assess the welfare of our fellow brothers and sisters in arms currently stationed there.
(Left) SGT Gates sees a silver lining
(middle) SGT Gates shows happiness from silver lining (right) The next
morning.
9 8 T H M E D D E T ( C S C )
KAIA Pictures
V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E I I
CPL Dan Lapointe of the Canadian Air Force, last night in Afghanistan.
Team KAIA Pics
Team Phoenix
9 8 T H M E D D E T ( C S C )
As we begin a new year here at Camp Phoenix, I remain thankful for my team,
the wonderful opportunities to meet and get to know fellow military service-
members, and the good work we have been able to do in support of our mission.
I have mixed feelings about redeploying at this halfway mark, but will think daily
about the 98th CSC team until everyone comes home! Most of all I will remem-
ber the great teamwork and laughter we shared here.
- MAJ Boucher, Rebecca
I still don't have much to say, but I want to thank Team Phoenix, PFC Fanning,
MAJ Eden and all of those at Camp Phoenix who assisted with our Camp
Phoenix Fit Fest for their efforts. Although we had minimal participants, those
who did participate felt like it was very informative. I also enjoyed our
Christmas lunch and gift exchange with the Preventive Medicine Team. 2013
was an interesting year, but now it time move on to 2014!!!!
- MAJ Chandler-Boone, Margueritte
December has been a very productive month for me on Camp Phoenix. Our
team traveled to new places, held a Fit Fest, and spent time with good friends
throughout the holiday season. The DFAC out-did itself for Christmas
dinner; there was an enormous amount of delicious food! We finally got
some snow, so all the cold weather has been worth it. I am now looking
forward to the New Year and new adventures.
- SGT Marinellie, Jennifer
This month has been pretty exciting for me. I am learning a lot and continuing
to grow as an individual in many aspects. I’d say the biggest thing to happen
to me this month is receiving a coin from the 226th Alabama National Guard
Brigade Surgeon. Colonel McGuiness said that we were one of the best
behavioral health teams that he has worked with. That meant a lot to me
because it shows how much my team and I have been working and having a
great impact on the various units on Camp Phoenix.
- PFC Victoria, Andres
Phoenix in December…..
V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E I I
Prevention
Clinical Collaboration
Marmal Mindmenders While our friends from Special
Operation Forces safely escorted Santa in on time, our team enjoyed serving our soldiers with morale encourage-ment and resource information (attached to goodies of course).
Christmas Day we opened gifts, attended Chapel, and enjoyed a good meal at the John Pratt (“Bee Hive”, named for the SEABEEs that built it) DFAC, and spent time with our loved ones via SKYPE/phone calls.
CPT Miguel Moran and CPT Montreuil at outlying posts, and their respective team members support 98th CSC missions as well and are also keys to successful execu-tion of referrals and
Our spotlight this month is on the 6/4 CAV Troop Medical Clinics in RC-North. The Marmal TMC Team is pictured to the left. Their support is essential in providing pre-scriptive support and medical collaboration.
treatment tasks.
We are grateful for them and wish them the best in their future missions as
they return home soon.
SSG Manzano has inspired this team with creative planning and consistent execution of our Primary Mission. PFC Mills’ enthusiasm and sense of humor are the catalysts that keep our op-tempo consistent.
MAJ Anderson said, “The best gift this Christmas is having a team that is mission-focused and dedicated to executing the mission in line with ARMY values.”
We had a grand total of 531 walk about contacts this month, most due to the dedication of SSG Manzano and PFC Mills!
Caption describing picture or
graphic.
9 8 T H M E D D E T ( C S C ) MAJ Justin Little, SGT Brandon Roth, SPC Corey Betty, and SPC Kyle Morris
T E A M K A F
Kandahar Airfield (KAF) Team KAF would like to express gratitude for the support and love they have received from their friends and families. This time of the year is always hard on our Warriors. The team relies on each other to keep their spirits high during the holidays. They would like to share what they have been up to for the month of December.
9 8 T H M E D D E T ( C S C )
Congratulations SGT Grayson, you have committed to more wonderful years with the Army!
Happy Holidays!
Team KAF leader thanks the team for their hard work with coins. Positive reinforcement is the best way to ensure continued desired behavior.
Team KAF had the pleasure of welcoming 1LT Troxell as she visited her daughter who she is deployed with! So amazing!
V O L U M E 1 I S S U E 3
Team KAF
Resiliency Corner
Gifts and Cheat Days!
Happy Birthday!
One Team/One Fight
Promoting Resilience
Bastion/Leatherneck (LNK) SGT Santa is coming to town!!!
Team Leatherneck spent the Holidays driving around and delivering stockings full of treats to the Service Members on Camp Leatherneck. During the trip SGT Sorenson was given the nickname of SGT Santa, which he readily adopt-ed. We wanted to help allevi-ate the stress of being separat-ed from our loved ones during the holiday season. The mis-sion was a huge success and we delivered over 200 Stock-ings.
On Black Friday the team set up at the USO to hold a “Blackout Friday” event. We passed out treats and contact information while SGT Sorenson took part in a Near-Bear Pong tournament and CPT Mason defeated all chal-lengers at chess.
To continue to build our rela-tions with Coalition forces we traveled to Camp Bastion and spent an afternoon with the British Psych Team. The two British Officers are Psych Nurses with the Royal Army. Their mission is similar to ours, but they do not have an equivalent to 68X Behavioral Health Specialist. Instead they rotate out two providers from their hospital for three months at a time. LCDR Treadwell, the U.S. Navy Psychiatrist ac-companied us on our outreach to the British Forces.
9 8 T H M E D D E T ( C S C )
TEAM LEATHERNECK PICTURES
SGT Santa
takes a selfie!
When we ran out
of stockings we
delivered full
care packages to
service members
across the Camp.
Happy Holidays
to all of our
friends and
family from
Camp
Leatherneck,
Afghanistan!
CPT Mason packing stockings in preparation for our Christmas Eve
Deliveries.
SHINDAND AIR BASE
Redeployment Classes were Conducted at Camp Estelle for Air Force personnel
Two major units redeployed home and classes were con-ducted for them.
Battle Field
Circulation To
Camp Arena in
the beginning of
December.
9 8 T H M E D D E T ( C S C )
Team Shindand has been busy taking care of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines across the Regional Command West area. Team Shindand’s positive can do attitude and strong mission drive allows us to take care of our warriors mak-ing this a very fulfilling deployment. SGT Jordan had a birthday turning the big 24. Col Bradley TF 28 Commander visited this week. We would like to welcome Task Force Bobcat to the FOB. They are replacing Task Force Granite who re-cently redeployed. The Team would like to take a moment to express what they are thankful for in spirit of the Christmas Holidays.
SGT Richard Jordan I am thankful for my daughter Zepplyn, my family, friends, and the 98th. Separation
from everyone I care about has not been easy, but you have given me strength by
supporting me, though we are not physically together. I am also thankful for the
friends I have made here who have helped me in so many ways and my team.
MAJ Tony Miller I am most thankful to my wife Christa that takes care of everything while I
am deployed. I am thankful for my family and friends. I am thankful for my
team here at Shindand. The 98th is a great unit to be a part of. We have great leadership.
SHINDAND Pictures
MAJ Miller
and SGT Jor-
dan with TF
Bobcat Role 1
Staff.
SGT Jordan celebrates his
birthday with SGT Tynes
(988th PM), SGT Sims (551
MED LOG) and SPC Boeman
(988th PM). Not pictured is
SPC Nave (551 MED LOG)
and SGT Fajardo (64th Vets).
The 98th CSC would like to thank our
loved ones for the support, love and
laughter we continue to
receive. Wishing all of our families and
friends a happy and healthy new year.
Happy New Year!
Mend the Mind, Meet the Mission!
Family Readiness Group Point of Contact:
Shawta Hewett, 98th FRG Leader
Newsletter Point of Contact:
1LT Norton, Unit XO
Left/Center: Afghanistan at dawn.
Beautiful pictures of LT Troxell’s trip to
KAF to see her daughter over Christmas
Right: The Command Team after serving
Christmas lunch at North DFAC
The BAF Cigar Club had NYE cigars for
SSG Christman and SSG Manzano. We miss you both!
Team BAF proves to be dysfunctional picture takers as we ring in the new year!